Special Territories of Member States of the European Union and their Relations to the EU
Daniel Šmihula
doc. JUDr. MUDr., PhD. Dr. iur., Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia
Several EU member states also include territories whose position vis-à-vis the EU is special because they have a special status. They can be included in the four following categories: Outermost Regions, Special territories belonging to the EU, Overseas Countries and Territories and Special territories of EU states outside the EU. In the Czech and Slovak societies, these groups of territories are not sufficiently known, they are often ignored even if they appear as part of the European negotiation and other agenda. At the same time, each of the mentioned categories has its own special legal regulation, which is interesting and worthy of attention. Several of these territories from the last two categories can become candidates for full integration into the EU at any time. Therefore, their overview and a description of their legal status currently can be very useful.
Keywords: European law; European Union; special EU territories
